Tag: Pomegranate

Sarabjit Singh Grewal

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Sowing Seeds of Resilience: Sarabjit Singh’s Journey as a Progressive Farmer

In the vibrant city of Patiala, where the fields stretched as far as the eye could see, resided a progressive farmer named Sarabjit Singh Grewal. Blessed with 6.5 acres of fertile land, Sarabjit embarked on his journey in fruit farming in the year 1983. His early years were filled with enthusiasm and a thirst for knowledge as he tirelessly cultivated various fruit crops.

Sarabjit’s passion for agriculture was deeply rooted in his family’s background. His father, Sardar Jagdayl Singh, had retired from Panjab Agriculture University’s Horticulture department in 1980 and was also involved in establishing the Fruit Research Centre in Bathinda. Growing up, Sarabjit was inspired by his father’s expertise and guidance, and it was in 1983 that he decided to pursue agriculture.

Refusing to be disheartened by setbacks, Sarabjit delved into extensive research to enhance his farming practices. With a Master’s and PhD in Zoology from Punjabi University, Sarabjit had a strong academic background that further fueled his thirst for knowledge. He voraciously read books on horticulture and sought information from the vast realm of the internet. Through his dedicated research, Sarabjit gained a wealth of knowledge that allowed him to make informed decisions about his farming endeavors.

In 2018, after nearly fifteen years of experimentation with different crops such as guava, Indian gooseberry, and pomegranate, Sarabjit made a strategic decision to focus on cultivating plum, guava, and peaches. Drawing from the lessons learned from his previous experiences, he carefully studied the unique requirements of peach trees, ensuring that the soil, water, and climate conditions were ideal for their growth. He also adopted the package of practices recommended by Panjab Agriculture University (PAU) and sought guidance from horticulture officers.

Sarabjit’s peach orchard flourished as he embraced the challenges that came with fruit farming. He understood the importance of close plantation and dedicated individual care and attention to each tree, including proper pruning, pest control, and disease prevention. His unwavering dedication and countless hours spent monitoring his trees resulted in a bountiful harvest.

To establish a market for his produce, Sarabjit relied on the services of an intermediary. He recognized the significance of building a strong network to connect with potential buyers and ensure fair prices for his hard-earned fruits. This allowed him to focus on the cultivation process, confident that his fruits would reach eager consumers.

As the sun sets over Sarabjit’s peach orchard, the fruits of his labor stand tall as a testament to his unwavering dedication. His choice of the Shan-e-Punjab species of peach, along with the cultivation of apples, plums, and even exotic fruits like dragon fruit, showcases his adaptability and willingness to explore new horizons in fruit farming. Sarabjit’s success story highlights the importance of knowledge, resilience, and a deep love for the land in achieving agricultural excellence.

Message to farmers

Sarabjit encourages fellow farmers to persevere through the inevitable difficulties, for the joy and satisfaction derived from a life devoted to nurturing the land are immeasurable. He also acknowledges that there may be limitations to earning potential in the fruit farming industry, but the rewards go beyond monetary gains.

Karamjit Singh Bhangu

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Meet the Modern Farmer, Who Is Growing According To the Need of the Hour

For Karamjit Singh, becoming a farmer was a distant dream, but the circumstantial conditions changed everything. In the last seven years, Karamjit Singh’s perception changed completely towards farming and now he has turned towards organic farming completely.

Like other young boys, Karamjit Singh was also a free soul who loved to play cricket all day long, he used to participate in the local cricket tournaments. His life was confined between school and playground. He never thought at that time that his life would take a whole new turn about which he had never thought about. During his academic years (school) in 2003, his father passed away and soon after some time, in 2005, his mother also passed away. After that only his grandparents were left in his family. At that time, situations were not under his control, so he decided to drop his studies after 12th and support his family.

At a very young age he got married and he also had the opportunity to go abroad and start his life from a new beginning again, but he chose to stay back with his grandparents. 2011 was the year when he decided to step in the field of farming. He started cultivating cereals, pulses, grains, and everything organically for home purpose in a small acreage. He got inspired by other farmers in his area and slowly expanded his farming expanse. Time and experience built confidence and then Karamjit Singh took his land back from lease.

He added more vegetable varieties like Squash Melon, Cauliflower, Okra, Peas, Chilli, Sweet Corn, Bottle Gourd, and Brinjal in his farmland and also started preparing nursery of chili, tomato, capsicum, and other vegetables.

The exposure that Karamjit got from farming, boosted up his confidence and in 2016 he decided to take 14 acres land on lease; and this is how Karamjit started making a happy life out of his living.

Today, in the life of Karamjit, he is still a newbie in the field of farming who has the curiosity to explore more and do more. With the same spirit, he entered in the field of floriculture, in 2017 and started cultivating Marigold by inter-cropping it with Gladiolus.

There also came a man- Ashok Kumar in the life of Karamjit Singh, who enlightened him with the knowledge of friendly pest and enemy pest, and this is how Karamjit Singh boycotted the use of insecticides in his field completely. Karamjit Singh took every chance as an opportunity to learn something new about farming and this is how he stepped towards his successes.

Currently, the whole farm of Karamjit Singh is equipped with drip irrigation system and pack-house for vegetables. He gives every nutrient to the vegetables in the most natural way possible. For marketing, he is following farm to the home concept in which he is doing home delivery of fresh insecticides free vegetables and he has also established an on-farm-market through which he is earning well.

For his initiative of cultivating fresh insecticides free vegetables he has been awarded by PAU, Kisan Club on 1st February, and he was also awarded second prize for best quality peas by Patiala Horticulture Department in 2014.

Karamjit Singh’s wife – Premdeep Kaur is his supporting pillar, she helps him in labour and harvesting process, and he manages the marketing part. In the beginning, there were some problems in marketing, but slowly he overcame all the hurdles with his hard work and enthusiasm. In place of chemicals and fertilizer, they prepare organic compost and spray at home. Recently, Karamjit Singh has planted 200 fruit trees of Kinnow, Pomegranate, Guava, Apple, Loquat, Lemon, Java Plum, Pear and Mango in his farm and in future he wants to focus on guava orchards.

Message:

“Committing suicide is not the solution. Farmers have to come out of the conventional cycle of farming, only then they can achieve success in long run. Moreover, farmers have to understand the importance of our Mother Nature and they should work towards saving water and soil.”

Currently, at the age of 28, Karamjit Singh has established his own organic business in his village Kansuha Kalan in Nabha Tehsil of Patiala District, and the spirit with which he is succeeding towards organic farming indicates a better future for his family and his surroundings. Karamjit Singh is a progressive farmer who has the capability to set an example for those aimless youth who are confused with their career choices… we need more farmers like him.

Captain Lalit

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HOW A MAN REALIZED HIS TRUE CALLING AND CHOSE HORTICULTURE AS HIS RETIREMENT PLAN

Growing pomegranate on the dry sandy land of Rajasthan, sound like a funny, fruitless, idea but with strong determination, perseverance, and high-density farming technology, Captain Lalit has made it possible.

After mastering many fields and pursuing many careers in his life, at last, Captain Lalit chose horticulture as his retirement plan and came back to his native place- 11 Eea in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Well, for many city-living-people, farming is not a good retirement plan, but Mr Lalit realized his true calling and thought of giving a chance to the very noble and basic profession of farming.

Earlier Life-

Mr Lalit was an active and enthusiastic man from the beginning, He started his professional career since he was studying in the college. After completing his graduation, he also obtained the license of a commercial pilot and pursued the profession of a pilot. Well, this is not all that he did. There was an era when computer education was just introduced in India everywhere, so by not missing the opportunity, he started a new venture and opened a computer education centre in Jaipur city. Soon after some time he also qualified the Oracle test and became an Oracle certified computer trainer. His computer education centre business went well for some years, but as the computer craze came down he had to wrap up his business because it wasn’t generating enough profit.

From his career choices, it was clear that from the beginning he was interested in choosing a unique profession which includes something new, whether it’s about the trend, technology or thing. And the next thing that he started was farming English vegetables and flowers for commercial purpose by taking a small piece of land on rent in Jaipur city, and many big five star hotels purchased his produce from him.

“When I was growing English vegetables like thyme, baby corn, broccoli, lettuce etc., at that time the localities use to make fun of me because for them these English vegetables were new. And they were amazed to see the smaller version of corn and greener version of cauliflower. But today they are eating those vegetables in pizza, burger, and salad.”

When the idea came into existence-

When he was farming English vegetables, during that time he realized that farming is the best investment and he should start it on a large scale. As he already had an ancestral property (12 bighas land) in his native place, so he decided to start Kinnow Farming on it. He came to his village with the idea of starting kinnow farming, but after discussing with many farmers he realized that everyone is doing the same and he should do something different.

And this was the time when his research on different fruit started and he visited many different farms in different cities. From his research, he made out a conclusion of growing an elite fruit and a common fruit. He consulted CISH (Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow) and decided to start pomegranate and guava farming in 2015. He grew pomegranate (sindoori variety) on 6 Bigha and Guava on the other 6 Bigha. Made mobile and the internet his book and teacher for research and help.

“In the beginning, I also consulted Rajasthan Agriculture University but they said that pomegranate farming is not possible in Rajasthan and they made fun of me.”

Farming Methods & Technology-
He followed high-density farming technology for pomegranate to generate high quality and good quantity produce. In this farming technology, he followed canopy management and planted 7 pomegranate plants in 20 m x 20 m area. By doing this, 1 plant is gives 20 kg fruit in a season and 7 plants gives 140 kg. In this way, he has planted more trees in less area and will generate good profit from it in the future. Moreover, due to high-density farming, trees height and width are less, due to which fewer labours are needed to maintain the whole farm.

Captain Lalit is much mechanized with his farming methods. For better yield and effective results, he has customized a tank-cum-machine with an attached mud pump, inside which he has installed a shaft to rotate and spread the slurry and jivamrit in the farm easily. To move the tank around the farm he uses a small tractor. When it comes to being economical then he prepares all the manure, fish amino acid fertilizer, bacteria and fungus for his whole farm himself, by buying just a bottle of NPK Bio-fertilizer from the market. He multiplies the bio-cultures by preparing the spray.

He has also adopted two cows of Rathi breed, which were roaming free on the road and now he is utilizing those cows for making jivamrit and manure. One of the important thing that he uses in the manure is “Agnihotr bhabhooti”- ashes obtained by offering prayers to God in front of the fire.

“The reason I am using Agnihotr Bhabhooti is that it helps in purifying the environment and it is a way of Adhyatmik Kheti. Adhyatmik means spiritual, a way of farming which is related to God.”

He has also built up a water reservoir in 50 m x 50 m area to save rain water and irrigate his farm with it. Earlier his farm was totally Eco-friendly because he was using solar electricity to manage everything. But now he is getting electricity from the government.

Role of Government-

His whole project of Pomegranate and Guava farming has been approved by the National Horticulture Board, and he gets the subsidy from them.

Achievements-
His farming effort is appreciated by many people. The university which made fun of him now invite him as the guest in their events and also consults him for high-density farming and pruning techniques.

Current Scenario-

Today he has 5000 plants in 12 Bigha of area and the age of the plants is 2 year and 4 months. By following high-density farming, pomegranate trees has already started bearing the fruit, but he is expecting the real commercial yield next year.

“During my research, I also visited some south Indian States and High Density Farming is already being done there. Farmers in North India should also follow this technique because it is very beneficial, in all the aspects.”

Before starting all this, he had the theoretical knowledge about high-density farming but he lacked the practical experience, but slowly with the time, he is gaining that too. He has 2 workers and with the help of them, he manages his farm.

His Views-

When a farmer starts farming he should start investing like an industry, then only he can gain profit. Moreover, today every farmer needs to be mechanized if they want to be efficient in farming.

Message to farmers-
“
Until farmers don’t stop practicing conventional farming they cannot become empowered and independent. Especially those farmers who have less land, have to take initiative themselves and they should invest in horticulture. They should just follow the right direction.
”

Gurraj Singh Virk

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A Farmer Who Made His Skills His Strength in His Difficult Times and Emerged as a Futuristic Agriculturalist

It is generally seen in India that most of the farmers gave up very easily, instead of facing their home, financial, and other types of difficulties with confidence. Even some farmers also choose the path of committing suicide. But today we are going to discuss one such a farmer, who not even faced his personal and financial problem with boldness, but he also worked harder and achieved many high level of awards in the field of horticulture and that man is, Gurraj Singh Virk who is farming Kinnow from the last 30 years.

Gurraj Singh was born on 1st October 1954, in a normal farmer’s family and he is a residence of Surgapuri village (District Faridkot). Even though he has just passed 12th standard, but he never gave up on his courage, and not only with his self-confidence had he accomplished a great position in the field of horticulture, but he also invented the machine to make his work easier and efficient. But the position he has achieved today for that he had worked very hard.

Beginning Struggle in his life
In the beginning, he was farming cotton, but his crops faced many diseases due to which he had to stop the farming of cotton in 1990 because money debt on him was increasing day by day that he took from other local merchants and banks. Then he started sugarcane farming, but after some time, he had to stop that as well because of low profit as Faridkot Sugarcane Mill was on a stage of getting shut down. After that, he decided to start paddy farming, but in this venture also he didn’t gain much of a profit because the land was not capable enough for irrigation.

Turning Point in Life
At last, with the support of Horticulture Department, Faridkot and Punjab Agriculture University he got trained in 1983 and planted Kinnow Orchard. It was not even 2 years since he planted the kinnow trees in the orchards, his father (Sardar Swarn Singh) expired, and because of this, the whole family’s strength was shattered. Although it took a lot of time to recover from it, but from patience, hard-work, and faith he managed to direct their life on the right path. The family was not even recovered properly from their great loss, and his mother also got expired in 1999, the whole family was again in a great shock. But even facing all this he never gave up his confidence and he continued his hard-work and effort.

Fruit of Hard Work
It is said that fruit of patience is sweet, in the same way, his kinnow orchards started giving fruits and good days were returned. He never misused the profit he earned from kinnows, on the other hand, he used it well with his wise senses to expand his orchard area and got installed a deep tube well. Now he has enough water to irrigate his paddy field which resulted in increased revenue. He also planted grapes on 2.5 acres of land, which made him earn a profit of almost one lakh per acre.

But the path of success was not that easy, almost after 15-year termite attacked his grape vine fields due to which he had to uproot the whole grape orchard. Then also he never loses his hope and he expanded and continued his kinnow, paddy and wheat farming.

Modernized ways of farming
Sardar Virk always keeps himself updated with the latest technology and also implemented the necessary technology in his farm. Today he has total 41 acres of land, from which 21 acres is for kinnow farming and 20 acres is for wheat and paddy farming. Other than kinnow he also has trees of Lemon, Grape Fruit, Mousambi, Malta Red, Malta Jaffa, Nagpuri Orange, Orange, Plum, Pomegranate, Grapes, Guava, Amla, Jamun, Falsa and Chiku on his farm. For better water management he uses drip irrigation system and in summers to maintain the moisture level in the soil he implies mulching technique. He is well-skilled in taking care of natural resources. Most of the times to increase the fertility of the soil in which Kinnow plants are planted he always supports and recommend the use of green manure. Along with traditional ways, he also follows high-density farming technology for kinnow farming.

Inventions and Creations
To make his work easier he has invented many things. He has designed many types of machines, which are not of high level and costly, instead they are very normal and designed in a simple way. Machines designed by him save time and money both. He has also designed a spray pump and machine to cut and give proper shape to the trees in a very simple layman’s way. Other than this he has also created a machine for cleaning and grading the kinnows, which cleans 2 ton of kinnows in one hour. And the total expenditure in cleaning two tons of kinnow it only costs him Rs. 125, whereas if that work is done by hand then the expenditure is Rs. 1000. And there is more money is cleansing the kinnows by the mechanical way.

Other than above-mentioned inventions, Gurraj Singh Virk has also contributed to literature. He has written 7 famous articles for kinnow farming and a book also.

Achievements
The success and hard work of Gurraj Singh Virk have made him many achieve many awards in different events. Some of them are as follow:

• He has received many awards district and state level for kinnow farming. He was awarded Best Kinnow Farmer in 2010-11 and 2011-12 by National Horticulture Board.

• He was also honoured by the Advisor of Monthly Agriculture Magazines for organizing fair in March 2012.

• Gurraj Singh Virk was also an advisor to the high-level committees of PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) of fruits and vegetables, and he also made a special position for himself in Malwa Vegetable and Fruit Growing Committee.

• He is also known for helping many farmers on the behalf of many departments and organizations.

• Gurraj Singh Virk has helped farmers in around 150 acres for Kinnow farming.

He is very thankful to KVK Faridkot State Horticulture Department for the training of Kinnow Production.

Family Life
Even though Sardar Gurraj Singh Virk was not that educated enough and he also faced many great problems in his life, but then also he has great achievements. Today his kids are also reflecting the same and are well settled at higher job positions. His wife (Jagmeet Kaur) is more of a home lady. Of their 5 children, one son is a doctor in America, one son is an engineer in Canada, one daughter is doctor in Canada and other is in Punjab and one is nurse in Canada. All his children are happily living with their family. Gurraj Singh Virk often visits his children in Canada and America.

MESSAGE FOR FARMERS
“Farmers should never lose their hope and self-confidence because of small losses and other difficulties and they should never give up. Farmers should also think other than conventional framing ways. There are still many fields in farming in which farmer can reap higher profit. Horticulture is the same field like this in which farmer can make profits in lakhs very easily. But in the beginning, they should keep patience. I’m making a huge profit from horticulture and for the future also I want that farmers should adopt horticulture along with other traditional farming methods. “

Rajnish Lambha

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Man Achieving Success through Organic Farming by Following His Grandfather’s Footsteps

There are very few children who take their ancestor’s occupation ahead in their life with the motive of making their father and grandfather proud of it. One such a person who after getting inspired from his grandfather, started organic farming is Rajnish Lambha.

Rajnish Lambha is a successful horticulturist based in Village Chelasi of JhunJhunu District of Rajasthan. He has a 4 acres orchard farm named after his grandfather as – Hardev Bagh and Udhyan Nursery and it has more than 3000 fruit trees of lemon, pomegranate, Bel Patra, Kinnow, Mousami etc. in it.

Choosing farming as his profession was Rajnish Lambha’s own interest. Rajnish Lambha’s father- Mr. Hari Singh Lambha was a Patwari and he had a full opportunity of choosing a different profession. And the education (double MA) that he received, from it he could have found any good job in his field, but he chose farming. Before organic farming he was into conventional farming and was growing crops like Bajra, wheat, Sorghum, Chickpea, mustard, fenugreek, onion, and garlic. But when he came to know about his grandfather’s organic farming experience he thought of taking his ancestral occupation ahead and make that work more profitable.

It all started in 1996, by planting 25 trees of Bel Patra in 1 Bigha area and implemented organic farming and no chemicals. Along with that he also started preparing nursery himself. After 8 years of hard work and efforts, in 2004-2005 finally the Bel Patra trees started bearing fruits and he earned huge profit of 50,000 from it.

This increase in profit made his belief stronger that orchard business has good yield and returns, so he decided of expanding the orchards in his whole area. In 2004, he planted 600 more trees of Bel Patra. And in 2005 along with the Bel Patra, he planted 150 trees of Kinnows and 150 trees of Mosambi in the orchards. As it is said that fruit of hard work is sweet, the results were the same; in 2013 he earned a good profit from Mosambi and Kinnows produce. And by getting inspired with that he planted 600 trees of pomegranate of sinduri variety and 250 trees of lemon. In 2012 he also planted 5 trees of mango (amrapali variety) and 5 trees of guava.

Currently he has total 3000 fruit trees in his orchard and he is gaining good profit from all the trees till date. Now even his younger brother (Vikrant Lambha) and his father (Hari Singh Lambha) are also helping in his orchard business. Other than orchard farming he also gave a try to dairy farming in 2006 with 25 cows, but he didn’t gain much profit from it and ended it in 2013. Now he has only 4 cows for domestic work.

To maintain the healthy yield and quality he prepares manure himself by using cow dung, Gau Mutr (Cow Urine), Neem water, Datura (Herb – Angel’s Trumpets), and vermicompost. And sometimes he also purchases cow dung from the market if they need it.

The main motive of Rajnish Lambha behind adopting horticulture as the main profession is that, it provides 10 times more profit as compared to conventional farming and can be easily done in an eco-friendly way. Moreover, there is very less need labour, he hires labours only when he needs to pick the fruits. Otherwise he has 2 permanent labours working for him every time. Now he also started preparing nursery for commercial purpose and is gaining good profit from it. And whenever he needs information regarding orchard farming then he consult agriculture related magazines, print media, internet etc.

To make his organic farming more updated and advanced he joined Morarka Foundation in 2009. Many farmers visit his farm regularly to learn something new from Rajnish Lambha, and he also provide them information and training without and cost. Sometimes, even agriculture officers also visit his orchard farm with group of farmers for events and training session.

From the beginning his dream was always to make his grandfather (Hardev Lambha) proud, although he is no more now, but he want to take his teachings ahead and inspire other farmers to start nursery preparation and orchard farming like him. For his great effort in the field of horticulture he is awarded by Agriculture Minister- Harji Ram Burdak in 2011 and also appreciated by Governor of Rajasthan – Kalyan Singh and many articles on him has also been published in the newspaper and magazines.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“He wants other farmers to adopt organic farming because organic farming has many health benefits as well as it is eco-friendly. Farmers should also reduce the use of chemicals. One thing they should remember that, regardless how much profit they are earning, profit can only be earned by doing something different like orchard farming.“

Gurjatinder Singh Virk

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Success Story Of A Farmer Who Started Fish Farming In Compulsion, But Today He Has Become An Inspiration For Others

Never thought by anyone, a land that had been lying vacant for the last 100 years, can be so productive and useful today. The reason that no one ever tried of doing anything on that land was, it remained waterlogged for 11 months in a year. But with the every coming new generation there comes a new thinking. We all know that to make a minor change in the surrounding and environment, great effort is needed, and that great effort can only come into action with strong willpower and passion. And with such a different outlook, intellect, and zeal, to do something for his motherland and for his community came Gurjatinder Singh Virk.

Gurjatinder Singh Virk residence of village Kandola, District Roopnagar, started fish farming on that 5 acres waterlogged land in the year of 1985, which came to him from ancestral property. As he was left with no other choice, so he especially visited Gurdaspur and took 5 days training before starting fish farming. He started fish farming almost 30 years ago, and since then, with his hard work and diligence, he has spread that 5 acres of land to 30 acres. His revolutionary step towards fish farming motivated many other farmers in following the same path, and ultimately it leads to manifold effect which helped in developing the whole wasteland into a fish farming area.

Today, about 300-400 acres of waste land is being used for the purpose of fish farming in the same area.

It all started years ago with a piece of land and one man’s effort, and today it has inspired many people. Eventually, that little step is helping in improving the livelihood of the farmers and many other localities by uplifting their living standard. Now, a community of passionate fishing farmers has been created in that area and their endeavours are ultimately resulting in the economic development of the area which is adding to the economic growth of the state and the nation.

Now, coming to the Mr. Virk’s farming method and economic progression. Gurjatinder Singh Virk farms breeds of common carp fishes like Catla and Rohu. 2000 fingerling fish seeds are needs for one pond is of one acre nearly. So, he use to put 2000 fingerling fishes, and the growth of the fishes depends upon the conditions of the water, quality of diet, and the predators present in the water. Generally, he puts two breeds of fishes in one pond and maintain an ideal condition for the good yield. He sold the fishes at Rs 80/Kg, whereas the market price is Rs 120/kg, and despite selling the fishes at a lower prices, he is earning in lakhs and making enough profit.

Gurjatinder Singh Virk has also taken many steps in preserving the nature; one of his important steps, he took is- reducing the carbon footprint by using solar pump sets to irrigate his own kitchen garden and also to fill up the pond. For the good work done by MR. Virk, he has received many awards and achievements, some of them are listed below-

He received District level award for Agriculture Technology Management and letter of Commendation by Roopnagar Administration for best agricultural practices. He was also awarded by Zee Networks for developing the area. In 2011 he was awarded as Best Citizen India Award, later on, followed by Bharat Jyoti Award and Fish Farmer Award.

His good work in the field of farming leads him to achieve membership in many prestigious committees and societies. Today, he is a member of Advisory Committee (ATMA) and Board of Management at GADVASU. He is also one of the 11 members of Kisan Vikas Chamber (which is set up to the pattern of major industry association of India like CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM); and the work done by this chamber is to upgrade the state’s deteriorating agrarian economy and bring it back on track by providing farmers with the latest updates related to farming. He was also Ex- grame warden (Forest Department) for Village Cooperative Society under NABARD for the District of Roopnagar and Mohali.

One of the major steps, taken by Gurjatinder Singh Virk in improving the fish farming method was visiting China with ex-chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, to know more about the technology being used in China for fish farming.

Apart from his global achievements, he has also worked very hard in making his surrounding a beautiful place full of greenery. He has his house in the centre of the ponds, and on that piece of land where he has his house, he has grown all types of vegetables and fruits. His farm has peaches, almonds, tangerine, mandarin, mango, pomegranate, apple, pine tree and more than 17 vegetables and pulses. He has developed the land around his house so well that, some of the rarest and common species of birds like fish-hawk, kingfisher, fork tail, geese, parrot, peacocks, etc., can be easily seen chirping around his farm. In short, development work on his homeland has created a diversity of the different species of birds.

All this way, the best motivation and companion who helped him in achieving what he has today, is his wife Rupinder Kaur Virk, she was with him in every step of life and helped him in every work. She also has a professional role in his life and that is maintaining accounting records of all the farm work. In the free time, she also loves to make pickles and candies for selling purpose, by using the own farm grown fruits. Gurjatinder Singh Virk manages all the farm work with the help of his wife and only two servants, and for the future development, he is working on the plan of making his farm a tourist place.

After the China visit Gurjatinder Singh Virk concluded that by using better technology, better production can be obtained, so he wants the farmers to start adopting new technologies for better production. He also mentioned that not having electricity supply 24-hour in their village is resulting into less farming produce and in the future, if they are provided with 24-hour electricity facility, then they can offer better results in the farming field. He thinks that from hard work you can reap anything from a piece of land, the only difference will be in the shape and appearance of the fruit and vegetable.

Hariman Sharma

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Story of a Farmer Who Did His Karma and Achieved Sweet Taste of Success through His Hard Work

It is said that nothing can withstand the power of human will. With the same will and consistency there came a man who with his continuous effort developed a new variety of apple on a land where it was almost impossible.

Mr. Hariman Sharma is a successful farmer having orchards of Apple, Mangoes, Peach, Coffee, Litchi, and Pomegranate. Coming from a subtropical place (Village Paniyala Kothi, district Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh) where temperature goes up to 45 degrees and land consist of 80% rock and 20% soil, growing apple there was almost impossible, but the consistent effort of Hariman Sharma’s made it happen.

Earlier Hariman Sharma was not a farmer and the success that he has achieved today, for that he has faced many challenges and difficulties in his life. From 1971 to 1982 he was a labourer; from 1983 to 1990, he did rock breaking and vegetable cultivation; from 1991 to 1998, he also started nurturing mango orchard along with vegetable cultivation.

In 1999 came a turning point when he observed an apple seedling sprouted in his courtyard. He preserved that seedling and started nurturing it with the knowledge that he gained during his farming experience. To improve the quality he grafted the branch of the apple tree on the stem of the plum tree and the results were exceptionally good. After two years the apple tree started giving fruits. Ultimately, he developed a different variety of apple which can be grown commercially at very low hills with a warm climate.

Slowly with the time words got spread about the discovery of a new variety of apple by Hariman Sharma. Most people rubbished these reports and some were surprised. But on 7 July 2007, he went to Shimla and offered a basket of apples grown by him to the Himachal CM. The CM immediately gathered his cabinet colleagues and all of them tasted those apples. And soon the CM named this apple as “Hariman”. Many experts from Horticulture University and department especially visited his orchards and were truly amazed and convinced by his work.

He has grown 8 apple trees of the same variety and they are growing alongside the mango trees in his orchard and are also giving good yield till date. The apple variety that Hariman Sharma has invented is named after him – HRMN-99. So far, he has distributed more than 3 lakh of saplings to farmers, gardeners, entrepreneurs and government organization across the country and 55 apple saplings of HRMN-99 is also planted in Rashtrapati Bhavan.  He also has fruit orchards of Mango, Litchi, Pomegranate, Coffee and Peach trees.

The apple variety that Hariman Sharma has created, requires low chilling and produces flowers and fruits under subtropical plains experiencing high temperatures. His achievement is a huge thing in the field of horticulture. Today, Hariman Sharma’s contribution towards the society is simply great and he is like an inspiration for others farmers.

Today Hariman apple are being grown and nurtured in almost every state of India. His hard work has proved that apple can be grown commercially at very low hills with a warm climate. Mr. Sharma has been sharing and spreading improved technologies and his innovation among the fellow farmers of his area.

Hariman Sharma’s work dedication in the field of agriculture has made him achieve many awards and accolades, some of them are listed below-

• Awarded as progressive farmer at Indian Agricultural Research institute (IARI), Delhi.

• Received an award for his innovation from the President of India by National Innovation Foundation for the ‘In-Residence’ programme at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

• Best Himachali Kisan Title 2010

• Prerna Srot Samman Puruskar, August 15, 2009

• State Level Best Farmers Award, August 15, 2008

• Successful Apple Production Award in Una (2011)

• Board Level and District Level Award 2007 & 2008

• Krishi Pandit Award on 19th January 2017

• Best Farmer Award 29.4.2017 on the auspicious occasion of IFFCO’s Golden Jubilee.

• IARI Fellow Farmer Award by Union Agriculture Minister of State – Pusa Bhawan – 17.3.2010

• National Innovative Farmer Award by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministery, Government of India – Given by Radha Mohan Singh on 21 March, 2016

• Awarded for the apple production by Governor of Himachal Pradesh on 3 February, 2016

• National 2nd Award by President on 4 March, 2017, Sponsored by National Innovation Foundation, India.

• Received Farmer Scientist Award by Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner on 9 March, 2017

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Karma is the right of human beings. Karma is not done for achieving the fruits. In a field, farmer’s work is to sow the seeds, but growing grains is not in the hands of the farmer. The farmer should never leave his work incomplete and should try everything to make his best effort. I tried to nurture that apple seedling and do something innovative with it, that’s why I’m here and that’s why an apple variety is named after me. Every farmer should try his best and do his karma.”

Krishan Dutt Sharma

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HOW ORGANIC FARMING HELPED KRISHAN DUTT SHARMA SCRIPT HIS SUCCESS IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE

There are situations in life which make people realize the missing objective of their lives and inspire them to achieve it. The same thing happened with an ordinary farmer- Krishan Dutt Sharma, of village- Chikhar (Shimla) and motivated him to adopt organic farming.

Achievements of Krishan Dutt Sharma in organic farming has made him so popular that today his name is counted in the list of important people in the field of agriculture.

It all started when, Krishan Dutt Sharma got the opportunity to visit Hyderabad (November 11, 2002), with the help of Agriculture Department. During that visit, he got an overview of Organic Farming. He was curious to know more about it, as well as he wanted to implement it.

His passion and ideas came into action when he came in contact with Morarka Foundation (in 2004). Until that time, he got well aware of the adverse effects of increased use of chemicals in the agriculture field and this made him very distressed and anxious. As he knew that, he also has to face the consequences of fertilizers and pesticides in the coming future, so he decided to adopt organic farming completely.

He had total 20 bigha land out which 5 bighas was irrigated land and 15 bigha was rain-fed area. In the beginning, he purchased an apple mother plant (root-stock) from Horticulture Department, and from that plant, he established his whole garden with 400 plants of apples. He also grew pears tree (20), cherry trees (20), peach trees (10) and pomegranate tree (15). Along with fruits, he also started growing vegetables like cauliflower, peas, beans, capsicum, and broccoli.

Generally, broccoli crop grown with pesticides and chemicals gets easily spoil, but the broccoli grown by Krishan Dutt Sharma in an organic way, significantly has much life. Due to this reason now broccoli grown by farmers organically is being carried to Delhi market for marketing purpose. Moreover, broccoli grown organically is sold around Rs 100-150 / kg and these numbers are escalating the income reach of farmers up to 500000 rupees, and in the boost of this six-digit figure, half of the income is earned from the sale of broccoli only.

To inspire more farmers towards organic farming, Krishan Dutt Sharma has created a group in his village under his leadership. His initiative has inspired many farmers to adopt organic farming.

Krishan Dutt Sharma’s achievements in the field of organic farming are very huge and even Himachal Government has honoured him with Best Farmer Award in “Organic Fair and Food Festival” in June 2013. But because of his humbleness, he gives all the credit of his success to Morarka Foundation and the Department of Agriculture.

He uses cows (3), bullocks (1), and calves (2) dung in his fields and forest, and he also prepares Vermicompost for better yield. He has prepared a bed of 30x8x10 on his farm where he prepares Vermicompost from 250 earthworms every year. In place of pesticides, he uses herbal spray, aperture wash, Jivamrit, and NSDL. Using natural pesticides in place of artificial improves his land condition and also decreases his expense.

Message:
“He wants to inspire other farmers to adopt organic farming for better future and good income.”